Fishing is an increasingly popular sport, with over 75 million enthusiasts involved in the United States of America. The increasing amount of fishermen and the limited fishing waters lead the way for more innovative products and methods for increasing the fishing yield in this competitive sport. Many of these new products are related to the stimulation of the olfactory, visual, and even sound senses of fish and include a wide variety of products and application methods.
Fish, especially sport-fish, are generally attracted to smaller bait-fish and anything natural that falls into or lives in the water, such as insects, frogs, crawfish, and worms. Most new developments for artificial baits are new designs or variations of previous designs which better simulate an actual bait-fish or other natural food. New color combinations are also being constantly designed and applied to existing and new baits for visual stimulation of the fish.
Fish are attracted to baits by their keen sense of smell as well as by visual means. A variety of products designed to stimulate these senses is presently available. Among these products, scent attractants are commonly used to increase the likelihood of success. These scent attractants tend to be oil or water based and therefore need to be constantly reapplied to the bait. This reapplication is necessary because the oil or water-based material which dissipates as the formulation is washed away by the water. These scent attractant products are usually very messy to work with, often leaving behind oily residues on the fisherman and equipment.
Scent attractant products are also available in various other forms, such as in water-soluble polymers which attach themselves to the exterior coating of the lure as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,643. This type of polymer coating requires a longer drying time due to the addition of the polymer. The polymer coating also absorbs the fish attractant, preventing penetration into the lure.
Thus, there is a definite need for a scent attractant product that can penetrate the lure and therefore does not require constant reapplication, dries quickly, and does not result in an oily mess. This invention satisfies this need by utilizing a scent with a volatile solvent which is capable of penetrating the bait thereby causing the scent to penetrate the bait.
Products also exist that enable the fisherman to change the color of a variety of plastic baits. This is usually accomplished by dipping the lure into a volatile solvent containing a dye. The lure is immediately removed from the solution and allowed to dry. As soon as most of the solvent has evaporated, the lure will have a different color and can be used immediately. However, in this application, some of the residual solvent or even the dye can emit a chemical odor that is offensive to the fish. Thus, there also exists a definite need for a product that can be applied by the fisherman that can both change the color of a plastic bait and which adds a long-lasting scent attractant in one simple process. The present invention also satisfies this need by utilizing the volatile solvent and scent with a dye. The present invention also provides a combination of scent attractant, dye and a water-insoluble polymer in a volatile solvent which can be applied to metal or other non-penetrable lures thereby effectuating a color change and imparting scent to the lure in one quick and simple application.